San Marcos road eyed as 'complete street'

A nondescript San Marcos road could be on its way to becoming a bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly "complete street."

At a 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday, the City Council will consider approving a $2 million grant application to turn two-lane Armorlite Drive, south of Palomar College, into a corridor with “street parking, bike facilities, pedestrian pathways, landscaping and traffic calming measures,” according to a city report.

Pausing near Armorlite on his bicycle Monday morning, San Marcos resident Martin Rodden said more bike lanes in the area “would be nice.”

“Just about everywhere you go could use better bike lanes,” added Rodden, 39, an occupational therapy student at University of St. Augustine in San Marcos.

Rodden said he often bikes to school or takes the Sprinter light-rail, adding he sees more of the city, including more places to stop and shop, when traveling on his bike rather than a car.

The short stretch of Armorlite eyed for improvement connects North Las Posas Road and Bingham Drive in an industrial city sector north of state Route 78. It has no sidewalks and is bordered by open fields.

Its location — smack in the middle of the planned Palomar Station commercial and residential development, and a block south of the Palomar College Sprinter Station — makes it eligible for a “smart growth incentive program” run by the region’s transportation planning agency.

That agency, the San Diego Association of Governments, has $9.6 million in grants available for smart-growth projects across the county, according to the city report. The grant program’s goal is “to fund comprehensive public infrastructure projects and planning activities that will facilitate compact, mixed use development focused around public transit, and that will increase housing and transportation choices,” according to SANDAG’s website.

Mike Edwards, the city’s engineer, said options for slowing traffic along Armorlite include adding diagonal street parking, crosswalks, more narrow traffic lanes and sections of new sidewalk that jut out into the road.

Elyse Lowe, executive director of Move San Diego, a nonprofit that advocates for alternatives to auto-based transportation, said the San Marcos project was an important step for the city.

“In order to get more people to go to a transit station without a car, you have to do things like complete streets,” Lowe said.

U-T San Diego leases office and warehouse space along the portion of Armorlite that could be improved.

Should the city secure the grant, San Marcos will commit up to $1 million in matching funds collected from developers, the city report said. The report added that by encouraging bicycling and transit use, the Armorlite project would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.